What is Proof?

Nov 1 2000
A question was asked about the nature of PROOF:
An answer in part offered:
Yes, the matter of proving things to ones' self is important.
This is the use of that "god-given" Intelligence that has been
loaned to us to use and to master on behalf of others all around
us. Curiously, as we learn and use this, and "give it away," our
own knowledge and ability to use it
increases, if it is honest, sincere, and true.
As one considers the sayings imputed to Jesus in the New
Testament, one finds that there are some that seem to say one
thing and then at another time, in another context they seem to
say things differently (or perhaps the translators saw them that
way). Of course the translation we finally get to read and
consult has passed through many hands (and minds) and even the
accuracy of the original texts is being still debated today by
scholars. In fact there is, so far, no finally agreed on
"original source" for most of the Bible. It is unfortunate that
we do not have His WRITTEN words. So we have to depend on our
inner sense of that which is fair and true to secure the best and
highest of meanings.
It is, as many think, one of our responsibilities. Jesus employs
the word "faith." He does so in those contexts that demand a
man's deep thought (and trust in Law and Justice) and, upon the
value and power of knowing that God is within himself as a
resident center of Consciousness and
Perception.
Some call it the "Spirit." Others call it the "Soul, or Mind."
But whether one word or the other is used they imply the use of
the thinking faculty. To think well, we have first to be
impersonal, and try to place our thinking power on the most
universal basis that we can formulate and imagine. We all have
to acquire knowledge and develop that through consideration into
WISDOM -- or the ability to apply universal principles in private
life and to the decisions and choices we make from hour to hour,
and moment to moment.
It is important to note that men of good-will usually think along
the same generous and broad areas in the same way. The
safe-guard in such thought is its Universality. In that way it
gets as close to God as is possible for any one individual to
do... It does not mean "going outside." But,
rather, it means going deep within one's own core-consciousness,
where that fragment of God is ever the Resident. We must
remember that God has omnipresence as an attribute -- there is
nowhere in space that God is not present. Some use the phrase
"the Higher Self" for this
great Principle. We have to develop, as Jesus suggests time and
again, a "faith" in this EXISTENCE as the most important thing in
our own nature.
If we start, as suggested with those 3 great aspects of God:
1. presence everywhere,
2. knowledge of everything, and
3. the power to choose and act,
we can see how important a sense of the presence of God in us is.
Can we make god-like decisions?
Is not Jesus an example before us of one who made God-like
decisions? He was careless of what happened to himself, and
careless of how the priests and the people reacted to what he had
to say. Hence, as he openly declared to the truth, those who
were pretenders, the "hypocrites," in an
effort to exercise "self-defense," had him destroyed. He was too
faithful a mirror of their own iniquity, and they could not bear
to have this shown to others, as it destroyed their usurped
"authority." Why is this ? They had lost their ability to
appeal internally to the fragment of God within themselves. They
had shut it away. Unfortunately, around us all, there are many
in that position, if not all of the time, then, part of the time.
And looking back at our own lives we can
see where we have also failed. But now that we become aware of
the situation we have the responsibility to do something about
it. And that decision becomes ours right away Are we
going to adopt it or try to escape ?
Once we realize this, as our own condition, we have an
opportunity to make that change which Jesus holds forth as an
ideal way of living -- honesty, sincerity, trustworthiness. This
is the beginning of wisdom. We should not advertise it, but just
quietly begin to apply it as often and as well as we can. In a
way this is the prayer that Jesus said ought to be offered to God
in secret
in "our own closet," and not behave as the Pharisees did, in a
temple or a church, and talk about it publicly, making claims of
piety.
Your next question as to the relations of King and subject or
Master to servant seem to also relate to this. As one might read
that which Jesus is reported to have said, one might discern that
he does not seem to make any moral/ethical distinction between
the "position" of King (or Master) and the "position" of a
peasant, subject (or servant). Both are "one with God" in their
innermost natures, and if they observe the duties that brothers
in Spirit owe to each-other then the virtues,
being present and being in operation, the respective
responsibilities of the different "positions" are
discharged. In finality it all depends on how the individual
decides to behave.
This transforms the "position" into the real nature of the
problem and that is the "right performance of duty." To know
one's duty requires knowledge. To act and choose well
requires wisdom. It requires an active attentive mind, and it
requires a compassionate and generous "heart." We need to find
out all we can of how God lives and Works in Nature
(his omnipresence) . Does not omnipresence combined with
omniscience produce "God's Law" which operates on all beings
everywhere according to their needs and duties?
In other words, what are the Laws (the omnipotence) that are
already in operation. When we have secured a perception and an
ability to observe these as information, we can then proceed to
act along lines that are extensions of God's "omniscience." One
might say that the reaction of "God's sensitivity to motive"
produces the third of God's attributes: omnipotence?
In that way, once that we are aware of these, we will be able to
make good decisions as to how we will act towards all those who
are our relations, friends, and other persons around us, as well
as such objects as we use, clothes, books, food, home, water,
air, etc... Each one of those
enshrines a potential intelligence which comes to it from God
(who is omnipresent). In a way we could say that we exercise our
duty in an ecologically responsible fashion as we understand
that God is everything. It is interesting to note that this has
changed our attitude. We now can volunteer to live and act as
God's children, each in the area of his duties. And we have to
study to know exactly what those are.
This is how theosophy might be used to answer problems phrased in
a familiar tone.
Again we come full circle. The Akasic records are imperceptible
to us (just now) as separate things. They are quite visible to
each of us as "divine ideas." Our minds can become devotedly
attuned to them through the process of having "faith" in the
reality of the "living God" that is
everywhere, and the care that we are expected to exercise in our
way of living with everything else all around us. When, in time,
we will have become as fully wise as Jesus, when we will have
allowed the wisdom of God to shine forth through us as god-like
acts and words, then will the Akasic records be plain as images
because we will have been using them all the time in this
development, and we will have made that faculty of perception an
automatic one in our living. At
this moment the Akasic records are a concept, an idea. In
practicing these duties that are ours we make them active and use
them from moment to moment.
We have to grasp the idea that we are right now "spirit
creatures" (to use your phrase) which are at present clothed in
material flesh. Inwardly we are a portion of God. Outwardly we
appear to be separate and very faulty for the moment. But with
knowledge and the faith to make
application we can improve. This material flesh has been
entrusted to us by God so that we can help him to manage and
improve the billions of little intelligences that make up the
many cells, molecules and atoms ( Monads ) we are made up of in
our "bodies."
The same God-like potential resides in a king as in his subject.
The responsibility of a ruler is to protect and help the least of
his subjects and to make sure that the divine ecology operates in
that area where he is responsible. In this he has to demand that
all his servants live and work with the divine discipline in
view, seeing that equity and assistance is made available to all
who need
it. So, if necessary, he has to educate them and assign such
responsibilities to them as they are capable of carrying out
fairly and justly. This is the essence of good management.
But are we not a "king" to our subjects in the body: the cells,
the molecules, the atoms that are assembled into a body that we
live in and use ? How are we treating them ? Do we take care of
them, or do we sometimes abuse them? If we find on retrospect
that we have been careless of their welfare, we ought to find out
why. Fairness is justice on a basis of equality to all.
And this leads to other aspects of the struggle that Jesus is
reputed to have undergone as narrated in the New Testament. Each
one is a "Jesus" (a Son of God) in potential. We have to
actively work to become a real SON OF GOD. How do we think that
Jesus became as a human, also the shining example of a God living
in reality, and with the awful responsibilities of a "prophet ?"
It took a determination, a vow, and the gentle but inflexible
persistence in adhering to duty, and securing wisdom (right
acting because of right thought) which He followed through many
reincarnations, through many lives, until he became "PERFECT."
Let us take the illustration of Jacob's ladder. It is, in a way,
an illustration of the various stages of life. And every
Mind-soul is on it, going up and down according to the decisions
that they (we) make. Those on the highest rungs have the
greatest responsibilities -- just as Jesus had. Everything,
every progress we make is dependent on choice, and we have to do
that choosing with the best conscience we can bring to bear.
This concept is part of the idea of the omnipresence of God -- as
a living Potency in everyone's HEART. It could be considered to
be a living wholeness, an ecology of cooperation. Cooperation in
all aspects of inter-relation is the living and vibrant ecology
of God. It is LIFE as a whole.
Our present duty is to consider these things, and learn to make
applications of them by using them as well as we can. One hopes
these few ideas will evoke further questioning. In applying this
to the matter of "proof" we might see that no one can prove
anything to another. However logic and examples can be advanced
so that another may find some of the same "proofs" within his own
thought and mind. Each one has to work these things out on their
own.
Best wishes to you,
D. T. B.